New Europe and old themes

Discussion on the national specifics has been a part of Slovak architecture for a long time. The present economical situation pushed this theme of the 19th century aback. Contemporary architects compare their works with creations of European architects, in the first place with an admirable Austrian milieu. They wish to find solvent and at the same time „enlightened“ investor. Construction of big bank buildings and administrative objects has been the most extensive construction area. It is concentrated in the capital which has been significantly changed by numerous high buildings. However, the same type of construction takes place in the secondary centers (Košice, Banská Bystrica).

Narrativity and moderation, discussion and export of the metropolis

The architects discuss the proportion of narrativity and moderation. The smaller centers display a tendency to more complicated architectural language. Some architects (theorist Marian Zervan) have recognized tediousness that might be caused by minimalism, but in the current construction the morphic architecture proposed by them is still rather a vision. Glass cubic buildings provoke laics: they seem just to repeat the motives of the late modernism from socialistic times. A civil discussion has been revived, and local communities often reject extensive new construction in the centers (shopping moles in Žilina, Banská Bystrica and Košice). In the small localities we can frequently observe experiments that exceed regional level and even national horizon of Slovakia. They include the family house in Stupava with transparent glass walls built by Ján Studený and David Kopecký, the architects from Prague and Bratislava

Dwellings, wasted chances and state buildings

A number of young architects expressed themselves in the construction of the villas for individual dwelling. Socially modest dwelling structures have been less effective. The long years of governmental-issued socialism devaluated the real social approach. Besides dwelling houses, the modest complex of CMYK in Prešov (Irakli Eristavi, Martin Jančok) attracted significant attention. The additional construction of the family house in Ivánka pri Bratislave (experienced architect Ivan Matušík, born 1930) is remarkable: functional modesty is combined there with a visual effect. According to the well-known theorist Štefan Šlachta who is nowadays the main architect of Bratislava, extensive construction of the church buildings during the 1990s became a wasted chance. Few of them contributed to the discussion on good architecture: for instance, the Lutheran church in Nitra with its austere reduction, as well as the small church in Vojkovce (Albert Rybarčák) characterized by postmodern narrativity. Remarkable objects ordered by the state include unpathetic reconstruction of the former tobacco factory in Nitra (Polyák, Holejšovský, Csanda) that was changed into the college.

Monuments of the recent architecture

Extensive construction and renovation influence also the monuments. There is a dilemma if the architects should preserve the monuments of „communistic architecture“ or not (as Ján Bahna claims). Uninterested foreign guests frequently have to defend those monuments. Slovak working group DOCOMOMO managed to stop the demolition of a typical Bratislavian complex which included the hotel and the shopping centre a lá Lever House (Ivan Matušík). They also secured an adequate renovation of the Chemical Institute (Stanislav Paluš) built during the 1960s. However, those successive actions seem to be rather extraordinary.